Food Hubs:  Heart of the local food movement Northeast…

The growth of the local food movement over the past several years is no subject to debate. Farmers markets are an oft-cited indicator, and Massachusetts is a poster child for the trend. According to the state’s Department of Agricultural Resources, the total number of markets rose 36 percent between 2005 and 2012.

http://www.ecori.org/massachusetts-econ/2014/2/8/food-hubs-heart-of-local-food-movement.html

A “food hub,” according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), is an entity that combines production, aggregation, distribution and marketing of local produce in order to help small and mid-sized farmers reach markets that would be logistically difficult, if not impossible, for them to access on their own.  In other words, food hubs help facilitate local food transactions by connecting the links in the supply chain — inputs, farmers, processors, aggregators, distributors, outlets, consumers and scrap.